Scanning optical microscope

ABSTRACT

A scanning optical microscope using a wavefront converting element suffers minimum off-axis performance degradation and allows the wavefront converting element to be controlled by a simple method. Further, a pupil relay optical system is simple in arrangement or unnecessary. A laser scanning microscope includes a laser oscillator  6  and a wavefront converting element  5  for applying a desired wavefront conversion to a laser beam  15  emitted from the laser oscillator  6 . An objective  7  collects a wavefront-converted approximately parallel laser beam  17  emerging from the wavefront converting element  5  onto a sample  9 . A detector  29  detects signal light emitted from the sample  9 . An actuator  8  scans the objective  7  along a direction perpendicular to the optical axis.

This application claims benefit of Japanese Application No. 2000-394934filed in Japan on Dec. 26, 2000, the contents of which are incorporatedby this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to scanningoptical microscopes and, more particularly, to a laser scanningmicroscope (LSM) that performs focal point movement along the directionof the optical axis by using a wavefront converting element.

2. Discussion of Related Art

It has heretofore been necessary in order to obtain a three-dimensionalimage of a specimen with an LSM, for example, to capture optical imagesof successive planes inside the specimen by mechanically moving eitherthe specimen or the objective along the direction of the optical axis.With this method, however, it is difficult to realize positional controlwith high accuracy and high reproducibility because the method needs amechanical drive. In a case where the specimen is moved, high-speedscanning cannot be effected when the size of the specimen is large.

In observation of a biological specimen, if the objective is-scanned inthe state of being in direct contact with the specimen or immersed in aculture solution of the specimen, vibrations of the objective adverselyaffect the specimen under observation.

To solve the above-described problems, Japanese Patent ApplicationUnexamined Publication (KOKAI) No. Hei 11-101942 discloses an adaptiveoptical apparatus. The apparatus is a microscope having an opticalelement (wavefront converting element) capable of changing power. Thearrangement of the microscope is shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. In this priorart, a wavefront converting element is inserted in either or both of aviewing optical path and an illuminating optical path to change thefocal length of the optical system and to correct aberration due to thechange of the focal length by using the wavefront converting element.With this arrangement, it is possible not only to form and move a focalpoint in the object space without changing the distance between theobjective and the specimen but also to correct aberration.

In the above-described prior art, it is preferable to place thewavefront converting element in the pupil plane of the objective or at aposition conjugate to the pupil plane from the viewpoint of allowing thewavefront converting element to effectively perform its functions ofmoving the focal point in the object space and making aberrationcorrection. If the wavefront converting element is not conjugate to thepupil plane, illuminating light or image-forming light will pass atdifferent positions on the wavefront converting element according to theheight of the object detected by the objective. To perform focal pointmovement or aberration correction, the wavefront shape has to be changedaccording to the object height. If the wavefront shape cannot properlybe changed, image quality is likely to degrade considerably in an areawhere the object height is high.

If the wavefront converting element is changed into an optimum shape inaccordance with a change in the object height, even if the wavefrontconverting element is not conjugate to the pupil plane, it is possibleto avoid image quality degradation in an area where the object height ishigh. To realize this, however, the wavefront converting element needsto be controlled at high speed so as to provide an optimum rotationallyasymmetric configuration. This is extremely difficult.

For the reasons stated above, it is desirable that the wavefrontconverting element should be placed at a position conjugate to thepupil. This is, however, difficult to implement because of the followingproblems.

A variety of objectives are used in microscopic observation, and thepupil position differs for each objective. Therefore, when a pluralityof objectives are switched from one to another to perform observation,it is difficult to keep the pupils of the objectives in conjugaterelation to the wavefront converting element at all times.

Further, the wavefront convening element needs to be placed in conjugaterelation to the position of a laser scanning member and also to theposition of the objective pupil. Accordingly, at least two pupil relayoptical systems are required. Therefore, the size of the apparatusbecomes large and it becomes unfavorably complicated.

Further, in the above-described prior art, a reflection type wavefrontconvening element is incorporated in the illuminating optical pathand/or the light-detecting optical path. Therefore, the prior art usesbeam splitters as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. Accordingly, when anon-polarized laser is used as a light source, together with anon-polarization type beam splitter, the amount of light is reduced to ¼every time the laser beam travels via the wavefront converting element.

More specifically, the amount of light is reduced to ¼in the process ofillumination and also reduced to ¼in the process of detection. That is,the amount of light is reduced to {fraction (1/16)}in total. If alinearly polarized laser is used as a light source, together with apolarization beam splitter and a quarter-wave plate, the loss of lightin the process of illumination can be prevented. However, in observationof fluorescence in a non-polarized state, the amount of light is reducedto ½in the process of (fluorescence) detection.

Further, even when a polarization beam splitter and a quarter-wave plateare used as stated above, it is not always possible to use a linearlypolarized laser as a light source. If a non-polarized laser is used toobserve fluorescence, the amount of light is reduced to ½in the processof illumination and also reduced to ½in the process of detection. Thatis, the amount of light is reduced to ¼in total.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention was made to solve the above-described problemsassociated with the prior art. Objects of the present invention are asfollows. A first object of the present invention is to provide ascanning optical microscope, e.g. a laser scanning microscope (LSM),using a wavefront converting element, wherein even when the object pupiland the wavefront converting element are not placed in conjugaterelation to each other, off-axis performance degradation is minimized,and wherein the wavefront converting element can be controlled by anextremely simple method, and a pupil relay optical system is simple inarrangement or unnecessary. A second object of the present invention isto provide an LSM using a wavefront converting element, in which theloss of light can be prevented even when the wavefront convertingelement is of the reflection type.

To attain the above-described objects, the present invention provides afirst scanning optical microscope including a light source and awavefront converting element for applying a desired wavefront conversionto illuminating light emitted from the light source. An objectivecollects wavefront-converted illuminating light emerging from thewavefront converting element onto a sample. A detector detects signallight emitted from the sample. An actuator scans the objective along adirection perpendicular to the optical axis.

It is desirable that illuminating light emerging from the wavefrontconverting element should be an approximately parallel beam.

In addition, the present invention provides a second scanning opticalmicroscope wherein when the above-described actuator scans one sectionof the sample perpendicular to the optical axis with the objective, thewavefront converting element applies a constant wavefront conversion tothe illuminating light.

In addition, the present invention provides a third scanning opticalmicroscope having an arrangement similar to that of the first or secondscanning optical microscope, wherein when the amount of movement of theobjective along the direction perpendicular to the optical axis (thiswill hereinafter be referred to as “scan range”) is denoted by ΔX, thefollowing condition (1) is satisfied:

ΔX≦0.66f_(OR)·λ(ΔX·NA⁴)   (1)

where:

f_(OB): the focal length of the objective;

ΔZ: the amount of focal point movement caused by the wavefrontconverting element;

λ: the wavelength of the illuminating light;

NA: the numerical aperture of the objective.

In addition, the present invention provides a fourth scanning opticalmicroscope including a light source and an optical element having apositive power for converting illuminating light emitted from the lightsource into a convergent beam. The fourth scanning optical microscopefurther includes a reflecting mirror with an aperture and a reflectiontype wavefront converting element for applying a desired wavefrontconversion to the illuminating light. An objective collects thewavefront-converted illuminating light onto a sample. A detector detectssignal light emitted from the sample.

In addition, the present invention provides a fifth scanning opticalmicroscope wherein an optical system including the reflecting mirrorwith an aperture in the fourth scanning optical microscope satisfies thefollowing condition (2):

r _(Hmin)/r_(Minc)≦0.5   (2)

where:

r_(Hmin): the minimum value of the length from the optical axis to thereflecting mirror edge;

r_(Minc): the radius of wavefront-converted illuminating light incidenton the reflecting mirror with an aperture.

In addition, the present invention provides a sixth scanning opticalmicroscope including a light source and an optical element having apositive power for converting illuminating light emitted from the lightsource into a convergent beam. A reflecting mirror is placed at aposition where the convergent beam is collected. A reflection typewavefront converting element applies a desired wavefront conversion tothe illuminating light. An objective collects the wavefront-convertedilluminating light onto a sample. A detector detects signal lightemitted from the sample.

In addition, the present invention provides a seventh scanning opticalmicroscope wherein an optical system including the reflecting mirror inthe sixth scanning optical microscope satisfies the following condition(3):

r _(Mmin)/r_(Ainc)≦0.5   (3)

where:

r_(Mmin): the minimum value of the length from the optical axis to thereflecting mirror edge;

r_(Ainc): the radius of wavefront-converted illuminating light at theposition of the reflecting mirror.

In addition, the present invention provides an eighth scanning opticalmicroscope including a light source and a reflection type wavefrontconverting element for applying a desired wavefront conversion toilluminating light emitted from the light source. An objective collectswavefront-converted illuminating light onto a sample. The light sourcealso serves as a detector for detecting signal light emitted from thesample.

In addition, the present invention provides a ninth scanning opticalmicroscope including a light source and a reflection type wavefrontconverting element for applying a desired wavefront conversion toilluminating light emitted from the light source. An objective collectswavefront-converted illuminating light emerging from the wavefrontconverting element onto a sample. A detector detects signal lightemitted from the sample. The reflection type wavefront convertingelement is placed in an optical path so as to satisfy the followingcondition (4):

θ_(PR)≦50·NA⁻¹(λ·ΔZ⁻¹⁾  (4)

where:

θ_(PR): the angle (°) of incidence of the principal ray on the wavefrontconverting element;

ΔZ: the amount of focal point movement;

λ: the wavelength of the illuminating light;

NA: the numerical aperture of the objective.

In addition, the present invention provides a tenth scanning opticalmicroscope including a light source and a reflection type wavefrontconverting element for applying a wavefront conversion to illuminatinglight emitted from the light source. An objective collectswavefront-converted illuminating light emerging from the wavefrontconverting element onto a sample. A detector detects signal lightemitted from the sample. The reflecting surface of the reflection typewavefront converting element is controllable into an aspherical toricsurface configuration.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part beobvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the arrangement of a laser scanningmicroscope according to the present invention wherein focal pointmovement is made by a wavefront converting element, and XY-scanning isperformed by driving an objective.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are diagrams for describing the plus-side movementand minus-side movement of a focal point caused by the wavefrontconverting element.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing XY-scanning with the objective.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing wavefront aberration due to themovement of the focal point.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing wavefront aberration due to scanningwith the objective.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the results of simulation for obtaining a scanrange ΔX [when f_(OB)=3 (mm)] where the Strehl ratio is 0.7 or more,together with the curves of formula (1).

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of simulation for obtaining a scanrange ΔX [when f_(OB)=10 (mm)] where the Strehl ratio is 0.7 or more,together with the curves of formula (1).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope having a reflection type wavefront convertingelement and a reflecting mirror with an aperture.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the arrangement of another embodiment of thelaser scanning microscope having a reflection type wavefront convertingelement and a reflecting mirror with an aperture.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope having a galvanometer mirror, a reflection typewavefront converting element and a reflecting mirror with an aperture.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for describing the loss of light at the reflectingmirror with an aperture shown in FIG. 10.

FIGS. 12(a), 12(b) and 12(c) are diagrams each showing the beam diameterat a reflecting mirror with an aperture and the shape of the aperture asprojected.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the intensity distribution of a Gaussianbeam.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope having a reflection type wavefront convertingelement and a reflecting mirror.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for describing the loss of light at the reflectingmirror shown in FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the beam diameter at a reflecting mirrorand the shape of a reflecting surface as projected.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope having a reflection type wavefront convertingelement and an optical element serving as both a light-emitting part anda light-receiving part.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope having a reflection type wavefront convertingelement and an optical fiber.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope in which a light beam is incident obliquely on areflection type wavefront converting element.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope in which a light beam is incident obliquely on areflection type wavefront converting element through a collimation lens.

FIG. 21 is a graph showing the results of simulation for obtaining anobliquely incident angle Δθ_(PR) [when ΔZ=0.05 (mm)] at which the Strehlratio is 0.7 or more, together with the curves of formula (4).

FIG. 22 is a graph showing the results of simulation for obtaining anobliquely incident angle Δθ_(PR) [when ΔZ=0.02 (mm)] at which the Strehlratio is 0.7 or more, together with the curves of formula (4).

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a laserscanning microscope using a reflection type wavefront converting elementhaving an aspherical toric surface.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a simulation model of an objective scanningmicroscope having a reflection type wavefront converting element with anaspherical toric surface.

FIG. 25 is a contour map showing an optimized reflecting surfaceconfiguration when a free-form surface type reflection wavefrontconverting element is used.

FIG. 26 is a contour map showing a reflecting surface configurationobtained by subtracting an optimized toric surface from the optimizedfree-form surface shown in FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the arrangement of a conventionalmicroscope in which a beam splitter is used for optical path splitting.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the arrangement of a conventionaltwo-photon microscope in which beam splitters are used for optical pathsplitting.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The arrangement and operation of the scanning optical microscopesaccording to the present invention will be described below specificallywith reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that thesame elements repeatedly employed in the drawings, which are used forthe following description, are denoted by the same reference numerals,and a redundant description thereof is not given. Further, the presentinvention will be described as a laser scanning microscope (LSM) using alaser oscillator as a light source.

The basic arrangement of the first scanning optical microscope accordingto the present invention, together with wavefront aberration due to themovement of the object point during Z-scan (i.e. scan along the opticalaxis direction) and a variation of the arrangement, will be describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

An LSM can be realized by an arrangement as shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1,a laser light source 6 emits illuminating light 2. The illuminatinglight 2 is converted into a plane wave through a collimation lens 4. Theplane wave passes through a beam splitter 21 and enters a wavefrontconverting element 5 as pre-correction illuminating light 15. In thewavefront converting element 5, the pre-correction illuminating light 15is subjected to a predetermined wavefront conversion (described later)and exits therefrom as post-correction illuminating light 17, which isthen converted into a spherical wave through an objective 7 toilluminate a point on a sample 9. Reflected light from the sample 9 iscollected through the objective 7 and enters the wavefront convertingelement 5 as pre-correction viewing light 18. In the wavefrontconverting element 5, the pre-correction viewing light 18 is subjectedto a predetermined wavefront conversion and exits therefrom aspost-correction viewing light 16, which is a plane wave. Thepost-correction viewing light 16 is reflected by the beam splitter 21and collected through a convex lens 28 to enter a photo-detector 29 asviewing light 3.

The objective 7 is of the infinity corrected type, in which aberrationis minimized when the object plane is coincident with the object-sidefocal point F thereof. An objective actuator 8 scans the objective 7along the XY-directions.

The wavefront converting element 5 is capable of converting thewavefront of illuminating light. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2(a), thepost-correction illuminating light 17 can be formed into a divergentbeam wavefront 13 so that the position where the illuminating light iscollected shifts to a plus-side shifted focal point 11, which is moreaway from the objective 7 than the object-side focal point F.Conversely, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the post-correction illuminatinglight 17 can also be formed into a convergent beam wavefront 14 so thatthe position where the illuminating light is collected shifts to aminus-side shifted focal point 12, which is closer to the objective 7than the object-side focal point F. That is, the position where theilluminating light is collected can be moved without moving theobjective 7 or the sample 9.

Further, because the objective 7 is scanned along the XY-directions bythe objective actuator 8, the object-side focal point F can be movedalong the XY-directions, as shown in FIG. 3. In the figure, OA₁ denotesthe optical axis of the wavefront converting element 5, and OA₂ denotesthe optical axis of the objective 7. Scan range ΔX is the distancebetween OA₁ and OA₂.

In other words, this system functions as a laser scanning microscope inwhich a position where a laser beam is collected is spatially moved toilluminate the sample 9, and light from the sample 9 is detected asviewing light.

Let us explain the operation of the wavefront converting element 5 tomove the focal position as shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b).

Because the objective 7 is of the infinity corrected type, when theilluminating light source is at a finite distance, the focal position isdisplaced from the object-side focal point F. In addition, sphericalaberration increases. Accordingly, in order to effect favorable imageformation at the plus-side shifted focal point 11 and the minus-sideshifted focal point 12, it is desirable that the divergent beamwavefront 13 and the convergent beam wavefront 14, which are incident onthe objective 7, should have not only a component for moving theparaxial focal point but also a component for correcting sphericalaberration due to the movement of the paraxial focal point.

Let us explain the spherical aberration correcting component withreference to FIG. 4. When rays with an inclination angle u are collectedat a point Q on the optical axis in the vicinity of the object-sidefocal point F of the objective 7, i.e. a distance ΔZ away from theobject-side focal point F, wavefront aberration W with respect to theobject-side focal point F is expressed by the following equation (5):

W=W _(F)+W_(SA)  (5)

where:

W_(F)=2ΔZ sin² (u/2)

W_(SA)=−2ΔZ sin⁴ (u/2)

In the above expression, W_(F) is wavefront aberration due to the focalpoint shift, and W_(SA) is spherical aberration in terms of wavefrontaberration that occurs owing to the focal point shift. The wavefrontaberrations W_(F) and W_(SA) are derived from the Herschel condition.That is, in order to obtain an image corrected for spherical aberrationat the plus-side shifted focal point 11 or the minus-side shifted focalpoint 12, shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), a wavefront conversioncorresponding to the wavefront aberration W expressed by the aboveequation (5) should be applied to the pre-correction illuminating light15 by the wavefront converting element 5.

Next, a variation of the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 will be described.In FIG. 1, two different elements are used as a laser light source and alight-detecting device, respectively. However, it is also possible toendow a single element with both the function of a light source and thefunction of a light-detecting device. That is, a semiconductor laserchip as used as a light source can also function as a photo-detector.Accordingly, if a semiconductor laser chip is used, the beam splitter 21becomes unnecessary, and a laser feedback microscope is constructed. Ifa gas laser is used as a light source, because it emits a narrowparallel beam, a beam expander should be used in place of thecollimation lens 4.

As the wavefront converting element 5, it is possible to use atransmission type wavefront converting element using a liquid crystalcell or the like. Alternatively, a reflection type wavefront convertingelement such as a membrane mirror may be used. Further, although in theforegoing arrangement the pre-correction illuminating light 15 enteringthe wavefront converting element 5 is a parallel beam, it may be adivergent beam or a convergent beam.

Further, the light-detecting optical path need not always be arranged tooverlap the illuminating optical path. The light-detecting optical pathmay be provided at the back of the sample 9 to detect transmitted light.Alternatively, the light-detecting optical path may be disposed at aside of the sample 9 to detect scattered light. In particular, when apulse laser is used as the light source 6 to observe the sample 9 withfluorescence produced by two-photon excitation, it is possible to obtainsatisfactory resolution in the optical axis direction even with anon-confocal optical system owing to non-linear characteristics inherentin two-photon fluorescence. In such a case, it is desirable to positionthe photo-detector closer to the sample than the illuminating opticalpath with a view to improving the light detection efficiency as well.

The second scanning optical microscope according to the presentinvention will be described below with reference to FIG. 5. The factthat the wavefront is kept constant during XY-scan will be explainedwith regard to a case where the pupil and the wavefront convertingelement are in conjugate positional relation to each other and alsoregarding a case where the pupil is not in conjugate relation to thewavefront converting element.

First, the influence of the scanning of the objective 7 on the imagewill be described. The objective 7 is scanned along the XY-directions bythe objective actuator 8. The amount of wavefront conversion applied bythe wavefront converting element 5 during the scanning is as expressedby the above-described equation (5). In the scanning optical microscopeaccording to the present invention, the amount of wavefront conversionapplied by the wavefront converting element 5 is kept constantindependently of the values of X and Y.

Because the objective 7 is of the infinity corrected type, if thepost-correction illuminating light 17 is a plane wave as shown in FIG.3, the image-forming characteristics will not degrade even when theobjective 7 is scanned along the XY-directions. However, if scanningalong the XY-directions is performed after the focal point movement hasbeen made as shown in FIG. 2(a) or 2(b), the image-formingcharacteristics degrade. FIG. 5 shows a state where X-direction scanninghas been performed by ΔX in FIG. 2(b). In the figure, reference numeral39 denotes an ideal wavefront. Reference numeral 14 denotes theabove-described convergent beam wavefront. When ΔX=0, the convergentbeam wavefront 14 and the ideal wavefront 39 are coincident with eachother. When ΔX≠, however, a wavefront displacement shown by ΔW in thefigure occurs. The wavefront displacement is nothing but the wavefrontaberration with respect to the point Q where light is collected. Thewavefront aberration ΔW has an influence upon image-forming performancebut gives rise to no problem in practical application as long as it iswithin a predetermined range, i.e. provided that the Strehl ratio is 70%or more.

Tables 1 to 3 below show the results of simulation performed to examinechanges in the image-forming characteristics under various conditionswhen the focal point movement and the scanning of the objective alongthe XY-directions were performed simultaneously as stated above.

Table 1 shows the results of simulation in which the system was arrangedso that the wavefront converting element and the pupil of the objectivewere conjugate to each other, and an optimum wavefront conversion W forobtaining ΔZ=0.05 (mm) was applied. Scan range ΔX within which theStrehl ratio was 70% or more was obtained for the following wavelengthsof light and NA values:830 nm, 546.7 nm, and 248 nm; and NA 0.5 to 0.9.It should be noted that the objective used was an ideal objective havinga focal length f_(OB)=3 (mm).

Similarly, Table 2 shows the results of simulation in which f_(OB)=10(mm), and ΔZ=0.05 (mm), and Table 3 shows the results of simulation inwhich f_(OB)=20 (mm), ΔZ=0.15 (mm), and NA was 0.5 to 0.7.

TABLE 1 [f_(OB) = 3 (mm), ΔZ = 0.05 (mm), pupil conjugate] Wavelength(nm) NA ΔX (STR = 70%) 830 0.5 0.432 0.6 0.255 0.7 0.144 0.8 0.080 0.90.040 546.07 0.5 0.314 0.6 0.176 0.7 0.099 0.8 0.051 0.9 0.026 248 0.50.158 0.6 0.083 0.7 0.043 0.8 0.023 0.9 0.011

TABLE 2 [f_(OB) = 10 (mm), ΔZ = 0.05 (mm), pupil conjugate] Wavelength(nm) NA ΔX (STR = 70%) 830 0.5 1.348 0.6 0.815 0.7 0.451 0.8 0.243 0.90.113 546.07 0.5 0.988 0.6 0.558 0.7 0.300 0.8 0.151 0.9 0.073 248 0.50.507 0.6 0.258 0.7 0.131 0.8 0.069 0.9 0.033

TABLE 3 [f_(OB) = 20 (mm), ΔZ = 0.15 (mm), pupil conjugate] Wavelength(nm) NA ΔX (STR = 70%) 830 0.5 1.113 0.6 0.587 0.7 0.309 546.07 0.50.737 0.6 0.393 0.7 0.200 248 0.5 0.346 0.6 0.172 0.7 0.091

Let us take notice of the results for the wavelength 546.07 nm and NA0.7, for example, in Tables 1 to 3. In Table 1, ΔX=0.099 (mm). In Table2, ΔX=0.300 (mm). In Table 3, ΔX=0.200 (mm). It can be said that thewavefront aberration ΔW is sufficiently small in the above scan rangeΔX. Therefore, if XY-scanning is performed within these ranges, thewavefront need not be changed in accordance with the scanning. In otherwords, favorable image-forming performance can be obtained with thewavefront kept constant. These hold true of the other wavelengths and NAvalues.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 5, OA₂ is located on the right-handside of OA₁. However, if the absolute value of ΔX is the same, theimage-forming characteristics of the optical system are the sameregardless of whether OA₂ is on the right-hand side of OA₁ or on theleft-hand side thereof. The same shall apply in the following opticalsystems, unless otherwise specified.

The above Tables 1 to 3 show the results of simulation in which thesystem was arranged so that the pupil of the objective and the wavefrontconverting element were conjugate to each other. The following is adescription of a case where the objective pupil and the wavefrontconverting element are not in conjugate positional relation to eachother.

Table 4 below shows the way in which image-forming characteristicschange as the conjugate relationship between the objective pupil and thewavefront converting element is gradually destroyed. The objective usedwas an ideal objective having a focal length f_(OB)=10 (mm) and NA 0.7.Strehl ratios for ΔX=0 to 0.3 (mm) when the distance between theobjective pupil and the wavefront converting element was changed from 0to 300 mm were obtained (wavelength:546.07 nm).

TABLE 4 [f_(OB) = 10 (mm), NA = 0.7, wavelength 546.07 nm] Distancebetween objective and wavefront ΔZ converting ΔX (mm) (mm) Pupil element(mm) 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.05 Conjugate 0 (STR=) 1 0.96 0.86 0.701 Non- 10 10.96 0.96 0.701 conjugate 30 1 0.96 0.86 0.701 100 1 0.96 0.865 0.702125 0.991 0.953 0.86 0.701 150 0.979 0.94 0.841 0.681 200 0.815 0.7920.75 0.632 −0.05 Conjugate 0 1 0.956 0.845 0.671 Non- 10 1 0.955 0.8420.668 conjugate 30 1 0.955 0.842 0.667 100 1 0.955 0.842 0.667 125 10.955 0.842 0.667 150 1 0.955 0.839 0.667 200 1 0.955 0.84 0.658 300 10.955 0.838 0.658

The results shown in Table 4 reveal that the system of the presentinvention suffers minimum off-axis image degradation even when the pupilof the objective and the wavefront converting element are not inconjugate positional relation to each other. That is, when the scanrange is ΔX=0.2 (mm), for example, even if the pupil is 200 mm away fromthe wavefront converting element, a Strehl ratio of 0.75 or more can beobtained.

As has been stated above, the system of the present invention ischaracterized in that when the objective is scanned along a directionperpendicular to the optical axis, i.e. the X-direction, the wavefrontconversion applied by the wavefront converting element is kept constant.It is, however, a matter of course that the system of the presentinvention is also applicable to two-dimensional scan in the X-Y plane.

Regarding the third scanning optical microscope according to the presentinvention, the scan range of the objective will be described below withreference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

As has been stated above, the XY-scanning of the objective has aninfluence on the image-forming characteristics. However, as long as itis within a predetermined range, the influence does not matter inpractical application, and satisfactory image-forming performance isobtained. That is, although it depends on various conditions, the scanrange AX where the Strehl ratio is 0.7 or more can be obtained accordingto the following expression:

ΔX≦0.66f_(OB)·λ/(ΔZ·NA⁴)  (1)

where:

f_(OB): the focal length of the objective;

ΔZ: the amount of focal point movement caused by the wavefrontconverting element;

λ: the wavelength of the illuminating light;

NA: the numerical aperture of the objective.

The results shown in Tables 1 and 2 above are shown in FIGS. 6 and 7,respectively, together with the curves of the above formula (1). It willbe understood from FIGS. 6 and 7 that the curves of formula (1) agreewith the results shown in Tables 1 and 2. That is, in the presentinvention, the scan range ΔX of the objective is controlled so as tosatisfy the condition (1). Thus, favorable image-forming performance canbe obtained with the wavefront kept constant.

The fourth and fifth scanning optical microscopes according to thepresent invention will be described below with regard to a reflectingmirror with an aperture.

Regarding the fourth scanning optical microscope according to thepresent invention, a basic arrangement for minimizing the loss of light,together with a variation thereof, will be described below withreference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

An LSM in which focal point movement is made by a wavefront convertingelement, and the loss of light is extremely small and hence a brightimage can be obtained can be realized by the arrangement shown in FIG.8. In the illustrated arrangement, a laser light source 6 emitsilluminating light 2. The illuminating light 2 is magnified through abeam expander 20. The magnified illuminating light 2 passes through abeam splitter 21 and is collected through a convex lens 22. Thecollected light is incident on a reflecting mirror 42 having areflecting surface 24 and an aperture 25 (the reflecting mirror 42 willhereinafter be referred to as “apertured reflecting mirror”). Theincident light passes through the aperture 25 and is incident on areflection type wavefront converting element 26. The illuminating lightis subjected to wavefront conversion when reflected by the reflectiontype wavefront converting element 26. The wavefront-convertedilluminating light is reflected by the reflecting surface 24 and formedinto an approximately parallel beam through a collimation lens 27. Then,the illuminating light is collected on a sample 9 through an objective7. Viewing light from the sample 9 travels along a path reverse to theabove and is reflected by the beam splitter 21 and collected on aphoto-detector 29 through a convex lens 28.

The scanning optical microscope shown in FIG. 8 is similar to thearrangement shown in FIG. 1 in that the movement of the focal point andthe correction of spherical aberration due to the focal point movementare made by the reflection type wavefront converting element 26, and theXY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by the objective actuator 8.

The fourth scanning optical microscope uses the apertured reflectingmirror 42 as a device for leading illuminating light to the reflectiontype wavefront converting element 26. Accordingly, unlike the prior artusing a beam splitter as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, this scanning opticalmicroscope can reduce the loss of light to an extremely small quantity.Further, because a narrowed beam passes through the aperture 25, aconfocal effect can be obtained by appropriately setting the size of theaperture 25. The confocal effect is particularly useful for observationof a fluorescent sample. To perform fluorescence observation, it isdesirable to use a dichroic mirror having appropriate wavelengthcharacteristics in place of the beam splitter 21.

FIG. 9 shows the arrangement of another embodiment of the scanningoptical microscope using an apertured reflecting mirror. In thisembodiment, an apertured reflecting prism 23 comprising two rectangularprism members and a reflecting surface is used as an aperturedreflecting mirror. The apertured reflecting prism 23 has a reflectingsurface 24 at a cemented surface between the two prism members. Anaperture 25 is provided in a part of the reflecting surface 24. Further,a semiconductor laser chip 1 is used as a light source also serving as aphoto-detector to construct a laser feedback microscope.

Illuminating light 2 is collected in the aperture 25 through only aconvex lens 30 without using a beam expander. The arrangement of therest of the system is the same as that shown in FIG. 8. The arrangementshown in FIG. 9 is similar to that shown in FIG. 8 in that the movementof the focal point and the correction of spherical aberration due to thefocal point movement are made by the reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26, and the XY-scanning of the objective 7 isperformed by the objective actuator 8, and also in terms of the actionand effect of the apertured reflecting prism 23 to reduce the loss oflight.

It should be noted that an apertured reflecting mirror is alsoapplicable to a beam scan type LSM, although it involves problems suchas a change in the objective pupil position due to switching betweenobjectives and an increase in the overall size of the system due to thepresence of a pupil relay optical system. The application of anapertured reflecting mirror to a beam scan type LSM will be shown below.

FIG. 10 shows the arrangement of another embodiment of the scanningoptical microscope using an apertured reflecting mirror. In thisembodiment, a galvanometer mirror 47 is used as a scanning device, andtwo pupil relay optical systems 46 are arranged to place the objectivepupil 45, the galvanometer mirror 47 and the reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26 in conjugate relation to each other. The portionof this embodiment that is not illustrated in the figure is the same asthat of the arrangement shown in FIG. 8.

The apertured reflecting mirror 42 is extremely effective in reducingthe loss of light when focal point movement is effected by a reflectiontype wavefront converting element not only in the objective scanningtype LSM shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 but also in the beam scan type LSM usinga galvanometer mirror or the like, which is shown in FIG. 10. As adevice for beam scan, a polygon mirror or an AOM (acoustic-opticalmodulator) may also be used besides a galvanometer mirror.

Next, the fifth scanning optical microscope according to the presentinvention will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13. Thearrangement of the fifth scanning optical microscope is the same as thatshown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The following is a description of the aperture25.

How the apertured reflecting mirror shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 canefficiently lead illuminating light to the wavefront converting elementwill be described below with reference to FIGS. 11, 12(a) and 13 incombination with FIGS. 8 and 9.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, the illuminating light 2 is collected through the lens22 or 30 when incident on the apertured reflecting mirror 42 or theapertured reflecting prism 23. The apertured reflecting mirror 42 or theapertured reflecting prism 23 is positioned so that the position wherethe illuminating light 2 is collected and the aperture 25 are coincidentwith each other. With this arrangement, the illuminating light 2 passesthrough the aperture 25. Therefore, there is substantially no loss oflight when the illuminating light 2 passes through the aperture 25.After passing through the aperture 25, the illuminating light 2 becomesa divergent beam. The divergent beam is reflected by the reflection typewavefront converting element 26 to become a post-correction illuminatinglight 17. After further diverging, the post-correction illuminatinglight 17 is reflected by the reflecting surface 24. At this time, a partof the illuminating light passes through the aperture 25 instead ofbeing reflected. Therefore, there is a loss of light at the aperture 25.This is shown in FIG. 11. The amount of light lost at the aperture 25can be evaluated at a plane 40 parallel to the reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26. Let us assume that the radius of an outlinedefined by the outer periphery of the beam of post-correctionilluminating light 17 when intersecting the plane 40 is r_(Minc), andthe radius of an outline of the post-correction illuminating light 17passing through the aperture 25 that is defined on the plane 40 when thepost-correction illuminating light 17 intersects the plane 40 is r_(H).On this assumption, the amount of light in the range of the radius r_(H)is the loss of the post-correction illuminating light 17. If it isassumed that illuminating light in the range extending from the radiusr_(H) to the beam radius r_(Minc) is all (100%) reflected by thereflecting surface 24, the reflectance η_(H) is calculated as follows.

Assuming that the post-correction illuminating light 17 is a Gaussianbeam with a beam radius r_(Minc) as shown in FIG. 13, the intensitydistribution I(r) thereof is expressed by

I(r)=I _(O)·exp(−2r²/r_(Minc) ²)  (6)

From equation (6), the integral E(r) of the intensity within the radiusr is expressed by $\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{{E(r)} = \quad {2\pi {\int_{0}^{r}{{{I(r)} \cdot r}{r}}}}} \\{= \quad {0.5\quad {I_{0} \cdot r_{Minc}^{2} \cdot \pi}\left\{ {1 - {\exp \left( {{- 2}{r^{2}/r_{Minc}^{2}}} \right)}} \right\}}}\end{matrix} & (7)\end{matrix}$

As has been stated above, a part of the post-correction illuminatinglight 17 that falls within the range of the radius r_(H) is lost.Therefore, with respect to the total amount of light within the range ofthe beam radius r_(Minc), the reflectance η_(H), i.e. efficiency, isexpressed on the basis of equation (7) as follows: $\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{\eta_{H} = \quad {\left\{ {{E\left( r_{Minc} \right)} - {E\left( r_{H} \right)}} \right\}/{E\left( r_{Minc} \right)}}} \\{= \quad {\left\{ {{\exp \left( {2 - {2{r_{H}^{2}/r_{Minc}^{2}}}} \right)} - 1} \right\}/\left\{ {{\exp (2)} - 1} \right\}}}\end{matrix} & (8)\end{matrix}$

It will be understood from the above equation (8) that η_(H) isdetermined by the ratio of r_(H) to r_(Minc).

The relationship between (r_(H)/r_(Minc)) and η_(H) is shown in Table 5below.

TABLE 5 (reflectance at apertured reflecting mirror) r_(H)/r_(Minc) 0.10.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 η_(H) 0.977099 0.911083 0.8094870.683287 0.544946 0.406420 0.277536 0.165037 0.072356

As will be understood from Table 5, if (r_(H)/r_(Minc))≦0.5, η_(H)≧0.54.It will also be understood that as (r_(H)/r_(Minc)) decreases, η_(H),increases, and when (r_(H)/r_(Minc))=0.1, ¢_(H) reaches 0.977. Thus, thereflectance is extremely high. That is, the loss of light is favorablysmall.

In the case of the prior art using a beam splitter, even when apolarization beam splitter, which produces a relatively small loss oflight, is used, if light from the light source is random polarized, atleast a half of the random polarized light is lost when it is convertedinto linearly polarized light. In contrast, the present invention canprovide η_(H)≧0.54 by arranging the optical system so that(r_(H)/r_(Minc))≦0.5 regardless of whether light is polarized ornon-polarized. Consequently, the illuminating light can be led to thewavefront converting element more efficiently than in the case of theprior art using a beam splitter.

Although in the foregoing the shape of the aperture 25 in FIG. 12(a) hasbeen described as a circle having a radius r_(H), the shape of theaperture for producing the above-described effect of minimizing the lossof light is not necessarily limited to the circular shape. For example,the aperture shape may be elliptical, polygonal, a star-shape, aslit-like shape, or an irregular shape. Even if the aperture has such ashape, the illuminating light can be efficiently led to the wavefrontconverting element as long as the optical axis extends through theaperture. When the aperture shape is not circular, the minimum valuer_(Hmin) of the length from the reflecting mirror edge (the boundarybetween the reflecting surface and the aperture) to the optical axisshould be regarded as r_(H). This is shown in FIGS. 12(b) and 12(c).

For the reasons stated above, it is desirable that the optical systemincluding the apertured reflecting mirror should satisfy the followingcondition (2):

r _(Hmin)/r_(Minc)≦0.5   (2)

where:

r_(Hmin): the minimum value of the length from the optical axis to thereflecting mirror edge;

r_(Minc): the radius of wavefront-converted illuminating light incidenton the apertured reflecting mirror.

It should be noted that the optical system satisfying the condition (2)means the optical system extending from the light source to theobjective.

It should be further noted that the aperture 25 in the present inventionis in confocal relation to the focal position of the objective 7, and itis therefore extremely easy to perform confocal microscopic observationby detecting a confocal signal. In such a case, it is desirable that theshape and size of the aperture 25 should be made suitable for confocalobservation. For example, the shape and size of the aperture 25 shouldpreferably be selected in conformity to the Airy disk diameter ofviewing light. When the aperture 25 is adapted for confocal observation,the size of the aperture 25 becomes small inevitably. Therefore,(r_(H)/r_(Minc)) also becomes extremely small. Hence, η≈1. Consequently,there is almost no loss of light.

The sixth and seventh scanning optical microscopes according to thepresent invention will be described below.

Regarding the sixth scanning optical microscope, a variation of thebasic arrangement for minimizing the loss of light will be describedbelow with reference to FIG. 14. Another LSM in which focal pointmovement is made by a wavefront converting element, and the loss oflight is extremely small and hence a bright image can be obtained can berealized by the arrangement shown in FIG. 14.

A laser light source 6 emits illuminating light 2. The illuminatinglight 2 passes through a beam splitter 21. Then, the illuminating light2 passes through a convex lens 30 to enter a prism 31 having areflecting surface 32. The illuminating light is collected on thereflecting surface 32 and reflected therefrom. Then, the illuminatinglight, which is now a divergent beam, is incident on a reflection typewavefront converting element 26 where it is subjected to wavefrontconversion. The illuminating light exiting the reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26 passes through the prism 31 having the reflectingsurface 32. Then, the illuminating light is formed into an approximatelyparallel beam through a collimation lens 27 and collected on a sample 9through an objective 7. Viewing light from the sample 9 travels along apath reverse to the above and is reflected by the beam splitter 21 andcollected on a photo-detector 29. The arrangement shown in FIG. 14 issimilar to those shown in FIGS. 1, 8 and 9 in that the movement of thefocal point and the correction of spherical aberration due to the focalpoint movement are made by the reflection type wavefront convertingelement 26, and the XY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by theactuator 8.

In this system, an optical element having a reflecting surface disposedat the position where the convergent beam is collected, that is, theprism 31 having a reflecting surface, is used as a device for leadingIlluminating light to the reflection type wavefront converting element26. Therefore, the loss of light is extremely small in contrast to theprior art systems shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, which use beam splitters.Reflected light from a region in the sample 9 that is conjugate to thereflecting surface 32 reaches the photo-detector 29 as viewing light 3.Conversely, reflected light from anywhere other than the conjugateregion does not reach the photo-detector 29. That is, the systemexhibits actions similar to those of a confocal optical system. Byappropriately setting the size of the reflecting surface 32, a confocaleffect can be obtained. The confocal effect is particularly useful forobservation of a fluorescent sample. To perform fluorescenceobservation, it is desirable to use a dichroic mirror having appropriatewavelength characteristics in place of the beam splitter 21.

An optical element having a reflecting surface, e.g. the foregoing prism31 having a reflecting surface, is extremely effective in reducing theloss of light when focal point movement is effected by the reflectiontype wavefront converting element 26 not only in the objective scanningtype LSM shown in FIG. 14 but also in a beam scan type LSM using agalvanometer mirror or the like.

Regarding the seventh scanning optical microscope according to thepresent invention, the reflecting mirror configuration will be describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16.

How the optical element with a reflecting surface shown in FIG. 14 canefficiently lead illuminating light to the wavefront converting elementwill be described below with reference to FIGS. 13, 15 and 16 incombination with FIG. 14.

In FIG. 14, the illuminating light 2 is converged through the lens 30when entering the prism 31 having a reflecting surface. The convergedilluminating light 2 is reflected by the reflecting surface 32 providedat the focal position of the lens 30. There is almost no loss ofilluminating light 2 when reflected by the reflecting surface 32. Theilluminating light 2 reflected from the reflecting surface 32 becomes adivergent beam and is then incident on the reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26. The illuminating light 2 reflected from thereflection type wavefront converting element 26 becomes apost-correction illuminating light 17. After further diverging, thepost-correction illuminating light 17 passes through the prism 31 havinga reflecting surface. At this time, a part of the illuminating light isreflected from the reflecting surface 32 instead of passing through it.The reflected part of the illuminating light is the loss of light.

The way in which the loss of illuminating light is produced is shown inFIG. 15. The amount of light lost at the reflecting surface 32 can beevaluated at a plane 41 parallel to the reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26. Let us assume that the radius of an outlinedefined by the outer periphery of the beam of post-correctionilluminating light 17 when intersecting the plane 41 is r_(Ainc), andthe radius of an outline of the post-correction illuminating light 17reflected from the reflecting surface 32 that is defined on the plane 41when the post-correction illuminating light 17 intersects the plane 41is r_(Ainc). On this assumption, the amount of light in the range of theradius r_(M) is the loss of the post-correction illuminating light 17.Let us further assume that illuminating light in the range extendingfrom the radius r_(M) to the beam radius r_(Ainc) passes completely(100%) through the prism 31 having a reflecting surface, and thepost-correction illuminating light 17 is a Gaussian beam with a beamradius r_(Ainc) as shown in FIG. 13. On this assumption, thetransmittance η_(M) is determined in the same way as in the case ofequation (8), which expresses the reflectance η_(H) of the aperturedreflecting mirror, shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. It is only necessary toreplace r_(H) and r_(Minc) in equation (8) with r_(M) and r_(Ainc),respectively, as follows: $\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{\eta_{M} = \quad {\left\{ {{E\left( r_{Ainc} \right)} - {E\left( r_{M} \right)}} \right\}/{E\left( r_{Ainc} \right)}}} \\{= \quad {\left\{ {{\exp \left( {2 - {2{r_{M}^{2}/r_{Ainc}^{2}}}} \right)} - 1} \right\}/\left\{ {{\exp (2)} - 1} \right\}}}\end{matrix} & (9)\end{matrix}$

The relationship between η_(M) on the one hand and r_(Ainc) and r_(M) onthe other in equation (9) is, needless to say, similar to therelationship between η_(H) on the one hand and r_(Minc) and r_(H) on theother in equation (8). Therefore, the relationship between(r_(M)/r_(Ainc)) and η_(M) agrees with the relationship between(r_(H)/r_(Minc)) and η_(H) in Table 5.

Although in the foregoing the shape of the reflecting surface in FIG. 16has been described as a circle having a radius r_(M), the shape of thereflecting surface for producing the above-described effect ofminimizing the loss of light is not necessarily limited to the circularshape. For example, the shape of the reflecting surface may beelliptical, polygonal, a star-shape, a slit-like shape, or an irregularshape. Even if the reflecting surface has such a shape, the illuminatinglight can be efficiently led to the wavefront converting element as longas the optical axis extends within the reflecting surface. Further, thereflecting surface 32 does not always need to be formed on alight-transmitting member (a plane-parallel plate or a prism). Forexample, the reflecting surface 32 may be formed from a small reflectingmember with a reflecting surface having a necessary area. In this case,the reflecting member may be supported by a support member. When theshape of the reflecting surface is not circular, the minimum valuer_(Mmin) of the length from the reflecting mirror edge to the opticalaxis should be regarded as r_(M).

For the reasons stated above, it is desirable that the optical systemincluding the reflecting surface should satisfy the following condition(3):

r _(Mmin)/r_(Ainc)≦0.5  (3)

where:

r_(Mmin): the minimum value of the length from the optical axis to thereflecting mirror edge;

r_(Ainc): the radius of wavefront-converted illuminating light at theposition of the reflecting mirror.

Regarding the eighth scanning optical microscope according to thepresent invention, the minimization of the loss of light and the sizereduction will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18.

Another LSM in which focal point movement is made by a wavefrontconverting element, and the loss of light is extremely small and hence abright image can be obtained can be realized by the arrangement shown inFIG. 17.

An optical element 43 is supported by a support member 34. The opticalelement 43 functions as both a light-emitting part and a light-receivingpart. Illuminating light 2 emitted from the optical element 43 isincident on a reflection type wavefront converting element 26 through acollimation lens 33. The illuminating light 2 is subjected to wavefrontconversion when reflected by the reflection type wavefront convertingelement 26. The reflected light passes through the collimation lens 33to become an approximately parallel beam and is then collected on asample 9 through an objective 7. Viewing light from the sample 9 travelsalong a path reverse to the above and is collected on the opticalelement 43. The arrangement shown in FIG. 17 is similar to those shownin FIGS. 1, 8, 9 and 14 in that the movement of the focal point and thecorrection of spherical aberration due to the focal point movement aremade by the reflection type wavefront converting element 26, and theXY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by the actuator 8.

In this system, the beam splitters used in the prior art shown in FIGS.27 and 28 are eliminated by disposing the optical element 43, whichserves as both a light-emitting part and a light-receiving part, in theoptical path. In this case, the loss of light can be minimized by usingan optical element and a support member that block a minimum of incidentlight as the optical element 43 and the support member 34. For example,if a semiconductor laser chip is used as the optical element 43, becauseits outer diameter is small, the area with which the optical element 43blocks light is small even when it is disposed in the optical path as inthis embodiment. Further, if the semiconductor laser chip is endowedwith both the function of a light source and the function of alight-detecting element, it is possible to construct a laser feedbackmicroscope. As the support member 34, a transparent substrate, e.g. aglass substrate, should preferably be used.

FIG. 18 shows another embodiment of the eighth scanning opticalmicroscope according to the present invention. In this embodiment, oneend of an optical fiber 36 is attached to the center of a collimationlens 35. The other end of the optical fiber 36 is connected to a laserlight source (not shown) and a photo-detector (not shown). Accordingly,the end of the optical fiber 36 attached to the collimation lens 35functions in the same way as the optical element 43 in FIG. 17. Becausethe optical fiber 36 can be formed with a small diameter, even if it isdisposed in the optical path as in this embodiment, the area with whichthe optical fiber 36 blocks the light path is small. Thus, the loss oflight can be minimized. The arrangement of the rest of this system isthe same as that shown in FIG. 17. That is, the movement of the focalpoint and the correction of spherical aberration due to the focal pointmovement are made by the reflection type wavefront converting element26, and the XY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by the actuator8.

The ninth scanning optical microscope according to the present inventionwill be described below with reference to FIGS. 19 and 20 and Table 6below. The ninth scanning optical microscope is arranged such thatilluminating light is incident obliquely on a wavefront convertingelement, as a variation of the arrangement for minimizing the loss oflight.

An LSM in which focal point movement is made by a wavefront convertingelement, and there is no loss of light and hence a bright image can beobtained can be realized by the arrangement shown in FIG. 19. A laserlight source 6 emits illuminating light 2. The illuminating light 2 isformed into a parallel beam through a collimation lens 4 and passesthrough a beam splitter 21. Then, the illuminating light 2 is incidenton a reflection type wavefront converting element 26 at an incidentangle θ_(PR). The illuminating light 2 is subjected to wavefrontconversion when reflected by the reflection type wavefront convertingelement 26. The reflected illuminating light 2 is collected on a sample9 through an objective 7. Viewing light from the sample 9 travels alonga path reverse to the above and is reflected by the beam splitter 21 andcollected on a photo-detector 29 through a convex lens 28.

It should be noted that the ninth scanning optical microscope is similarto the foregoing laser scanning microscopes in that the movement of thefocal point and the correction of spherical aberration due to the focalpoint movement are made by the reflection type wavefront convertingelement 26, and the XY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by theactuator 8.

To perform fluorescence observation, it is desirable to use a dichroicmirror having appropriate wavelength characteristics in place of thebeam splitter 21. In this case, fluorescent light can be detected moreefficiently than in the case of the prior art shown FIG. 27. Inaddition, the illuminating light can be led to the sample moreefficiently than in the case of the prior art shown in FIG. 28.

The above-described arrangement in which a light beam is incidentobliquely on the reflection type wavefront converting element isextremely effective in minimizing the loss of light not only in theobjective scanning type LSM shown herein but also in a beam scan typeLSM using a galvanometer mirror or the like.

FIG. 20 shows another embodiment of the scanning optical microscope inwhich illuminating light is incident obliquely on the reflection typewavefront converting element. In this embodiment, one end of an opticalfiber 36 is placed at a position away from the optical axis of anobjective 7 by a distance a. The other end of the optical fiber 36 isconnected to a laser light source (not shown) and a photo-detector (notshown). Accordingly, the first-mentioned end of the optical fiber 36functions as both a light-emitting part and a light-receiving part.Illuminating light 2 emerging from the optical fiber 36 is collimatedthrough a convex lens 37 and incident on a reflection type wavefrontconverting element 26 at an incident angle θ_(PR). The illuminatinglight 2 is subjected to wavefront conversion when reflected by thereflection type wavefront converting element 26. The reflectedilluminating light 2 passes through the convex lens 37 and then passesthrough a collimation lens 27 to become an approximately parallel beam.Then, the illuminating light 2 is collected on a sample 9 through anobjective 7. Viewing light from the sample 9 travels along a pathreverse to the above and is collected into the end of the optical fiber36 and detected by the photo-detector (not shown). This arrangement issimilar to the foregoing in that the movement of the focal point and thecorrection of spherical aberration due to the focal point movement aremade by the reflection type wavefront converting element 26, and theXY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by the actuator 8.

With this arrangement, because the optical fiber 36 can be formed with asmall diameter, the distance a shown in the figure can be minimized.Further, as the collimation lens 37, a lens having a long focal lengthf₃₇ can be used from the viewpoint of design. This means that it ispossible to reduce the incident angle θ_(PR) with respect to thereflection type wavefront converting element 26. Thus, the arrangementis excellent from the viewpoint of image-forming performance (describedbelow).

Let us explain the relationship between the incident angle θ_(PR) andthe image-forming performance. When the incident angle of light rays is0°, the reflection type wavefront converting element can completelycorrect spherical aberration at the position where light is collected byperforming wavefront conversion to provide a rotationally symmetricconfiguration. However, when the incident angle is large, an off-axisaberration component is produced. Consequently, it becomes impossible tomake satisfactory aberration correction. As a result, the image qualitydegrades. However, the image quality degradation is so small that it isignorable as long as the incident angle is within a certain range.

Accordingly, a simulation was performed to obtain the upper limit valueof the incident angle θ_(PR) at which the Strehl ratio was 0.7 or morewhen focal point movement and spherical aberration correction were madewith a reflection type wavefront converting element disposed at a tiltat a position conjugate to the pupil of an objective. The results of thesimulation are shown in Tables 6 to 9 below. It should be noted that theobjective used was an ideal objective of the infinity corrected type.

TABLE 6 [obliquely incident angle θ (°), (STR = 70%), f_(OB) = 10 (mm),ΔZ = 0.05 (mm), pupil conjugate] NA 0.3 0.5 0.7 Wavelength 830 23 13 8.5(nm) 546.07 18.5 10.5 7 248 11 7 4.5

TABLE 7 [obliquely incident angle θ (°), (STR = 70%), NA = 0.5, ΔZ =0.05 (mm), wavelength 546.07 (nm), pupil conjugate] f_(OB) (mm) 3 10 20θ 11 10.5 10.5

TABLE 8 [obliquely incident angle θ (°), (STR = 70%), NA = 0.5, f_(OB) =10 (mm), wavelength 546.07 (nm), pupil conjugate] ΔZ (mm) 0.02 0.05 0.10.2 θ 16.5 10.5 7.5 5.5

TABLE 9 [obliquely incident angle θ (°), (STR = 70%), f_(OB) = 3 (mm),ΔZ = 0.02 (mm), pupil conjugate] NA 0.3 0.5 0.7 Wavelength 830 35 20.514 (nm) 546.07 29 17 11.5 248 20 11.5 7.5

It will be understood from the above that the upper limit of θ_(PR) is afunction of NA, wavelength and ΔZ and unrelated to the focal lengthf_(OB) of the objective. The upper limit of θ_(PR) is given by thefollowing formula (4):

θ _(PR)≦50·NA^(31 1(λ·ΔZ) ³¹ ¹)  (4)

where:

θ_(PR): the angle (°) of incidence of the principal ray on the wavefrontconverting element;

ΔZ: the amount of focal point movement;

λ: the wavelength of the illuminating light;

NA: the numerical aperture of the objective.

The results shown in Table 6 and 9 above, together with the curves ofthe above formula (4), are shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, respectively.

It will be understood from FIGS. 21 and 22 that the curves of formula(4) agree with the results shown in Tables 6 and 9. That is, theincident angle θ_(PR) with respect to the reflection type wavefrontconverting element can be determined from formula (4).

Regarding the tenth scanning optical microscope according to the presentinvention, the scheme of minimizing the loss of light by using a toricsurface will be described below with reference to FIGS. 23 to 26,together with Table 10 below.

Another LSM in which focal point movement is made by a wavefrontconverting element, and there is no loss of light and hence a brightimage can be obtained can be realized by the arrangement shown in FIG.23. It should be noted that the term “aspherical toric surface” as usedin the following description means a surface configuration which has twoplanes of symmetry perpendicularly intersecting each other and in whicha curve intersecting these planes of symmetry is expressed by anaspherical sectional configuration.

A laser light source 6 emits illuminating light 2. The illuminatinglight 2 is formed into a parallel beam through a collimation lens 4 andpasses through a beam splitter 21. Then, the illuminating light 2 isincident obliquely on a reflection type wavefront converting element 44controllable into an aspherical toric surface configuration (hereinafterreferred to as “toric wavefront converting element 44”). Theilluminating light 2 is subjected to wavefront conversion when reflectedby the toric wavefront converting element 44. The reflected illuminatinglight 2 is collected on a sample 9 through an objective 7. Viewing lightfrom the sample 9 travels along a path reverse to the above and isreflected by the beam splitter 21 and collected on a photo-detector 29through a convex lens 28.

In this system, focal point movement and the correction of sphericalaberration due to the focal point movement are made by the toricwavefront converting element 44.

Further, the XY-scanning of the objective 7 is performed by an actuator8 in the same way as in the foregoing laser scanning microscopes.

To perform fluorescence observation, it is desirable to use a dichroicmirror having appropriate wavelength characteristics in place of thebeam splitter 21.

The above-described arrangement in which a light beam is incidentobliquely on the toric wavefront converting element 44 is extremelyeffective in reducing the loss of light not only in the objectivescanning type LSM shown herein but also in a beam scan type LSM using agalvanometer mirror or the like.

Let us explain why an aspherical toric surface is used as the surfaceconfiguration of the wavefront converting element.

When a reflection type wavefront converting element is used in thearrangement shown in FIG. 23 to make focal point movement, it isdesirable to control the surface configuration of the wavefrontconverting element into a free-form surface configuration from theviewpoint of correcting aberrations completely. However, because afree-form surface has no symmetry in configuration, it is not easy torealize a necessary free-form surface configuration precisely with anaccuracy on the order of the wavelength of light. Incidentally, theinventor of this application analyzed the configuration of thereflection type wavefront converting element actually required in thearrangement shown in FIG. 23 and, as a result, found that the requiredconfiguration is certainly a free-form surface in the strict sense ofthe term, but it has high symmetry and is extremely close to anaspherical toric surface. This will be explained below with reference toFIGS. 24 to 26.

FIG. 24 shows a model of an objective scanning microscope having areflection type wavefront converting element 44. A parallel illuminatinglight beam having a beam diameter of 4.2 mm and a wavelength of 830 nmis incident on the reflection type wavefront converting element 44 at anincident angle of 45°. The reflection type wavefront converting element44 has an elliptical effective-diameter area with a major diameter of5.94 mm and a minor diameter of 4.20 mm. The illuminating light issubjected to wavefront conversion, and the optical path thereof is bentthrough 90°by the reflection type wavefront converting element 44. Thereflected illuminating light enters an objective 7 positioned away fromthe reflection type wavefront converting element 44 by 10 mm on theoptical axis. The objective 7 is an ideal objective having a focallength of 3 mm and NA of 0.7. The surface configuration of thereflection type wavefront converting element 44 is formed so that theposition where light is collected by the objective 7 shifts to aposition away from the object-side focal point F by ΔZ=0.04 (mm). Let usmake a comparison between a case where the surface configuration of thereflection type wavefront converting element 44 is a free-form surfaceand a case where it is an aspherical toric surface.

FIG. 25 is a contour map (units: μm) showing the reflecting surfaceconfiguration when the surface configuration of the reflection typewavefront converting element 44 is a free-form surface. FIG. 26 is acontour map showing a reflecting surface configuration obtained bysubtracting an aspherical toric surface configuration having planes ofsymmetry in the ξ—ζ and η—ζplanes from the above-described free-formsurface. It should be noted that in FIGS. 25 and 26 the elliptical areawith a major diameter of 5.6 mm and a minor diameter of 3.9 mm is shownby the bold line. Contour lines within the elliptical area are shown bythe thin lines. It is observed in FIG. 25 that the reflecting surfaceconfiguration has a slightly asymmetric component with respect to theξ—ζ plane (it is obvious that the reflecting surface configuration issymmetric with respect to the η—ζplane). The maximum displacement is 8μm.

On the other hand, the maximum displacement in FIG. 26 is +0.04 μm onthe plus side and −0.06 μm on the minus side. Either of thedisplacements is less than 1% of the maximum displacement of theabove-described free-form surface, i.e. 8 μm.

Let us show that the difference in configuration between the asphericaltoric surface and the free-form surface gives rise to no problem inpractical application.

In FIG. 24, a stop 48 with an aperture diameter of 3 mm was added to theobjective 7 with the toric wavefront converting element 44 placed asillustrated in the figure, and the stop 48 and the objective 7 werescanned together as one unit along the XY-directions. With this setup,the Strehl ratio was obtained. The results of the experiment are shownin Tables 10(a) and 10(b) below. In the tables, AY denotes the scanrange in the Y-direction. Regarding the distribution of theimage-forming characteristics in the XY-directions, it is obvious thatthe distribution is asymmetric with respect to the X-axis but symmetricwith respect to the Y-axis. Therefore, in Table 10(a), the Strehl ratiowas obtained in the ΔX range of 0 to +0.5 (mm). In Table 10(b), theStrehl ratio was obtained in the AY range of −0.5 to +0.5 (mm).

TABLE 10 (a) [f_(OB) = 3 (mm), NA = 0.5, wavelength 830 (nm), ΔZ = 0.04(mm), ΔY = 0 (mm)] ΔX (mm) STR 0 0.997 0.2 0.935 0.4 0.754 0.5 0.628

TABLE 10 (b) [f_(OB) = 3 (mm), NA = 0.5, wavelength 830 (nm), ΔZ = 0.04(mm), ΔX = 0 (mm)] ΔY (mm) STR 0.5 0.585 0.4 0.715 0.2 0.912 0 0.997−0.2 0.958 −0.4 0.793 −0.5 0.672

It will be understood from the above that the Strehl ratio is 0.7 ormore in the ΔX range of 10.4 (mm) and in the AY range of ±0.4 (mm), andsatisfactory image-forming performance can be obtained even with anaspherical toric surface in these ranges.

Scanning optical microscopes, e.g. laser scanning microscopes (LSMs),using a wavefront converting element according to the present inventionprovide the following advantageous effects.

With the first scanning optical microscope, scanning along a directionperpendicular to the optical axis is performed by scanning theobjective. Therefore, even when focal point movement is performed by thewavefront converting element, degradation of off-axis image-formingperformance is minimized. Moreover, from the viewpoint of thearrangement of the system, the objective pupil need not be conjugate tothe wavefront converting element.

With the second scanning optical microscope, when the objective isscanned along a direction perpendicular to the optical axis, it isunnecessary to change the wavefront conversion applied to illuminatinglight by the wavefront converting element. Therefore, the drive controlof the wavefront converting element is facilitated.

The third scanning optical microscope makes it possible to obtain an LSMthat performs focal point movement by a wavefront converting element andhas favorable image-forming characteristics.

The fourth to seventh scanning optical microscopes make it possible toobtain an LSM suffering a minimum loss of light despite the use of areflection type wavefront converting element.

The eighth scanning optical microscope makes it possible to obtain anLSM suffering a minimum loss of light and compact in size despite theuse of a reflection type wavefront converting element.

The ninth and tenth scanning optical microscopes make it possible toobtain an LSM free from loss of light despite the use of a reflectiontype wavefront converting element.

What we claim is:
 1. A scanning optical microscope comprising: a lightsource; a wavefront converting element for applying a desired wavefrontconversion to illuminating light emitted from said light source; anobjective for collecting wavefront-converted illuminating light emergingfrom said wavefront converting element onto a sample; a detector fordetecting signal light emitted from said sample; and an actuator forscanning said objective alone a direction perpendicular to an opticalaxis, wherein when said actuator scans one section of the sampleperpendicular to the optical axis with said objective, said wavefrontconverting element applies a constant wavefront conversion to saidilluminating light, and wherein when an amount of movement of saidobjective along a direction perpendicular to the optical axis is denotedby ΔX, the following condition (1) is satisfied: ΔX≦0.66f_(OB)·λ/(ΔZ·NA⁴)  (1) where: f_(OB): a focal length of the objective;ΔZ: an amount of focal point movement caused by the wavefront convertingelement; λ: a wavelength of the illuminating light; NA: a numericalaperture of the objective.
 2. A scanning optical microscope comprising:a light source; a wavefront converting element for applying a desiredwavefront conversion to illuminating light emitted from said lightsource; an objective for collecting wavefront-converted illuminatinglight emerging from said wavefront converting element onto a sample; adetector for detecting signal light emitted from said sample; and anactuator for scanning said objective along a direction perpendicular toan optical axis, wherein when an amount of movement of said objectivealong a direction perpendicular to the optical axis is denoted by AX,the following condition (1) is satisfied: ΔX≦0.66f _(OB)·λ/(ΔZ·NA⁴)  (1)where: f_(OB): a focal length of the objective; ΔZ: an amount of focalpoint movement caused by the wavefront converting element; λ: awavelength of the illuminating light; NA: a numerical aperture of theobjective.